AG rejects petition on land ownership caps

Land Cabinet secretary Farida Karoney and Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki have opposed a petition seeking to compel Parliament to enact laws to cap land ownership.

A petitioner was seeking the Nyeri court to force MPs to make laws prescribing maximum and minimum landholding acreages in respect to private land in line with Article 68 of the Constitution.

In his submissions filed yesterday at the High Court in Nyeri, the Attorney-General said the petitioner, Amos Muchiri, moved to court prematurely since he has not petitioned Parliament to consider the matter.

Mr Kariuki added that the orders the petitioner sought would hurt the economy through stalling land transactions.

A 2015 draft Bill National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale drafted gave the Land secretary immense powers to determine how much land an individual can hold overriding an earlier Bill then acting Land secretary Fred Matiang’i had published, which restricted private citizens’ holdings to 25 acres.

The Matiang’i proposals, which generated heated debate, proposed that individuals in rich agricultural highlands would own a maximum of 10 hectares (24.7 acres) — a limit that extends to 15 hectares for the not-so-rich agricultural land.

Through lawyer Muhoho Gichimu, the petitioner says the National Assembly ought to have enacted the legislation on or before February 27, 2012.

According to Mr Muchiri, any survey, subdivision and registration of parcels of land done since 2012, when the timelines lapsed, is unlawful.

The case will be heard next Thursday.